Emerson W. Baker
History prof @Salem State, author of A Storm of Witchcraft & The Devil of Great Island, early American public history, 17th C. archaeology and material culture.
- OTD May 13, 1692 Judges Hathorne & Corwin experiment with the touch test, during the examination of Abigail Somes - witnessed by the afflicted Mary Warren. When the afflicted touched a witch, the witch's curse was supposed to transfer back to the witch, thus ending the affliction.
- OTD May 12 1692, in Salem, Mary Warren testifies about John Procter's specter:" I Caught hold of my master & pulled him downe into my Lap."
- OTD May 11, 1692, in Salem, Margaret Jacobs confesses to witchcraft, and says her grandfather George Jacobs and Reverend George Burroughs are witches as well.
- #OTD May 10, 1717 Salem witchcraft judge (& ancestor of Nathaniel Hawthorne) John Hathorne dies in Salem. He will be buried in Salem's Charter St. cemetery, not far from the tomb of Judge Bartholomew Gedney.
- #OTD May 10, 1692, after nine weeks in prison, 49 year old Sarah Osborne died in the Boston jail. She is the first victim to die during the Salem witch hunt. Osborne had been ill for several months before her arrest and the horrible conditions in the jail surely did not help.
- #OTD May 9, 1693, the Massachusetts Superior Court of Judicature Convenes in Ipswich, to take up the last witchcraft cases. Among those cases, the grand jury refused to indict Tituba for witchcraft, 14 months after she was first accused.
- #OTD May 8, 1692, in Salem Village, Rev. Samuel Parris's text for sermon is I Corinthinans 10:21 "Ye cannot drink at the cup of the Lord and the cup of Devils."
- OTD May 7, 1692, in Salem Village, the specter of George Burroughs severely torments Mercy Lewis, but she still refuses to sign Satan's book.
